I had an opportunity to ask Anthony "Tony" Escarpenter, Infrastructure and Security, Brightstar Corporation, a few questions about how his organization is using tools from Provision Networks. Thanks Tony for finding time to communicate with me during a difficult time.

I had an opportunity to ask Anthony "Tony" Escarpenter, Infrastructure and Security, Brightstar Corporation, a few questions about how his organization is using tools from Provision Networks. Thanks Tony for finding time to communicate with me during a difficult time. I really appreciate it.

Please tell me who you are and a bit about your organization.

I am Director of IT Infrastructure and Security with Brightstar Corporation, the largest wireless distribution and supply chain solutions company in the world. We operate in 49 countries on six continents with 2006 revenues in excess of $3.6 billion.

What does your organization do that needs what Provision Networks offers?

We operate global call centers and distribution centers. With a distributed infrastructure and workforce, deployment of desktops and application delivery became challenging from a management and security perspective. To sustain our rapid growth, Brightstar needs to remain agile. Provision Networks’ Virtual Access Suite has afforded us this business agility and enhanced our competitive advantage. We are able to deploy and deliver virtual desktops and applications in a fraction of the time typically needed to establish an in-country infrastructure. On-going management which includes security and backup/DR considerations are performed centrally.

What products were considered before Provision Networks product was selected?

We considered Citrix Presentation Server.

Why was Provision Networks product selected over the competition?

We implemented the Provision Networks solution because of its comprehensive features, integrated VPN access infrastructure and the end-user experience they deliver. We also found the solution simple to use and manage and required little if any end-user re-training.

What tangible benefits has your organization gotten from the deployment of Provision Networks product?

Better manageability, stronger security, a lower total cost of ownership and business agility.

Do you have any advice for others who may be facing similar challenges?

Tony suggested that it would be wise to engage with either Provision Networks or one of their certified integrators.

The Provision Networks approach is consolidating and delivering applications and desktop environments from a centrally managed infrastructure consisting of Windows terminal servers as well as physical and virtual machines. Hewlett-Packard is one of Provision Network's primary partners.

Snapshot Analysis

Provision Networks is focused on providing a combination of access virtualization using Microsoft's Terminal Services and remote access of virtual machines using virtual processing infrastructures from VMware, Virtual Iron, XenSource, SWsoft and Microsoft.Other forms of virtualization are not addressed directly by Provision Networks suites.

This approach could be very helpful for organizations who primarily use Windows-based solutions. Organizations, on the other hand, that rely heavily on other platforms, such as Mainframes, Unix or Linux, or who need to address the needs of an orchestrated environment based upon other forms of virtualization technology, such as application, processing, storage and/or network virtualization, may also be well advised to seek other, more generalized, solutions.